Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Tampa Bay

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
ST. PAUL -- Following a dominant win over division rival Winnipeg to start a five-game homestand, the Wild will aim to continue its winning ways on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Minnesota had six different goal scorers in a 7-1 win over the Jets on Black Friday, getting four points from Kirill Kaprizov and 30 saves from goaltender Cam Talbot.
The victory also extended the Wild's point streak to three games, a span that began last Sunday in Tampa when Minnesota rallied from a pair of goals down to force overtime and eventually a shootout, one which the Lightning earned the extra point.

Since then, the Wild has earned wins over New Jersey and Winnipeg, and leads the Central Division standings by four points over the St. Louis Blues.
The Wild lost forward Mats Zuccarello to a hand injury in the win over the Jets on Friday after he was slashed by Winnipeg defenseman Nathan Beaulieu late in the second period.
Zuccarello did not come out for the third period, but coach Dean Evason said it was precautionary and that he could have returned had the game not already been out of hand.
Evason backed off that assertion a bit on Saturday following an outdoor practice at the St. Louis Park Recreation Outdoor Center.

"He's sore," Evason said. "He'll be a game-time decision for [Sunday]. It's a tough spot to have an injury like that."
Any absence by Zuccarello would be meaningful. He scored a pair of goals on Friday and has seven points over his past five games, and is a plus-8 over that span.
On the season Zuccarello is a plus-9, has six goals and is averaging a point per contest in 16 games.
Minnesota is already without captain Jared Spurgeon, who will miss his third consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

Tampa Bay has also been hit hard with injuries recently, as the Lightning are without both Brayden Point (upper body) and Nikita Kucherov (lower body), as well as Erik Cernak (upper body).
That hasn't slowed the Lightning, however, as Tampa Bay has won three consecutive games and has wins in six of its past seven contests overall. Over their past 13 games, the Bolts have lost just once in regulation.
Minnesota has owned this series in St. Paul, capturing victories in 10 of the 14 matchups between the clubs at Xcel Energy Center, including wins in each of the past eight games. Tampa Bay's .212 points percentage in the State of Hockey is its lowest road points percentage against any NHL opponent and the Lightning haven't taken two points from the X since April of 2011.